Reality Check
by Alistair Lowary
Summary: A nervous Tails has to face reality when his plans are messed up. YAOI! DON'T LIKE DON'T READ! Just don't flame. SONTAILS ONESHOT


**Reality Check**

**Alistair Lowary**

Tails the Fox smiled at his reflection as he combed his hair. _"You're going to do fine tonight."_

You see, tonight was Tails' first date with his longtime crush, Sonic the Hedgehog. It was an incredibly nerve-wracking occasion, but the kit couldn't have been more relaxed.

"_It's not like this is real or anything."_

Tails stopped combing and looked around. It truly was incredible. The fox had spent years designing this holographic simulator, and it was nearly flawless. Now, he could finally have an "actual date" with Sonic. Or at least a representation of him, anyway.

Did it matter? To Tails, Sonic was Sonic. He'd programmed the hedgehog's personality to be an exact duplicate of the real Sonic. Tonight was going to be exactly like the real thing.

The sound of the doorbell almost made Tails jump from his thoughts. "He's here!" Tails was so excited that he almost couldn't whisper the words. Collecting himself, he quickly grabbed his best tie and raced downstairs.

When Tails finally opened the door, he was incredibly pleased. Sonic had that same smile and stance that the actual Sonic would.

"Hey!" Sonic's lighthearted tone made Tails smile. "I'm not late, am I?"

"Not at all, Sonic. Please, come in."

The hedgehog held up a paper bag. "I hope you don't mind. I brought something to drink." He pulled out a bottle of wine. "I've been saving it for a special occasion."

"Well, tonight is a _very_ special occasion." Tails grabbed Sonic by the hand and led him in. "I have a wonderful evening planned."

"I don't think I've ever seen you like this."

Tails glanced over at the hedgehog as he lit a candle. "Hm?"

"You're just so _confident_ all of a sudden!" Sonic chuckled. "It's almost like you're not worried about what'll happen tonight."

"Oh, I've just been looking forward to tonight for a long, long time."

Tails walked into the kitchen and pulled a perfectly cooked meatloaf out of the oven. "Dinner's ready!"

A sudden alarm sounded. Tails cursed under his breath as he dropped the meatloaf on the ground.

"Hey, everything all right in there?"

"Yeah, everything's fine!" Tails sighed and pulled out a handheld device. He pushed a few buttons and sighed. There was someone at the door. Well, the _real_ door. "Computer, discontinue program."

Tails watched as everything in the room vanished, leaving only four dark gray walls and a pair of glass doors. The fox heard the doorbell ringing in the distance.

Tails rushed through his rather large house toward the doors. The ringing continued. "Coming, coming!" Tails yelled.

He pulled open the front door to see a blue hedgehog. Tails was almost overcome with nervousness. He had to _prepare_ before seeing Sonic. How was his hair? Were his clothes rumpled?

"Tails, you all right? You're really pale."

"Huh? Oh… I'm – I'm fine."

Sonic chuckled. "Fine? You're whiter than a ghost and you're stuttering like a gas engine. In fact, you've been that way for months now. Seriously, what's going on?"

"It's nothing, Sonic. I – I've just had a lot on my mind."

"Girl troubles, eh? It's Cream, isn't it? She's giving you the old eyebrow raise?"

"No, not – not exactly." Tails sighed. He did have troubles, all right. _Boy_ troubles. Thing was, he couldn't tell Sonic how he felt. What would the consequences be?

"Ok…" Sonic paused with his hands in his pockets for a few moments. "Anyway, I tried calling you. Today's bowling day with the gang, remember?"

"Oh."_ "Stupid, stupid, stupid! How could you forget bowling day?_" Tails looked away from his friend. "I'm – I'm sorry, S-Sonic. It – uh – I've been busy."

The kit now looked up at Sonic, tears filling his eyes, though he had no idea why. "Sorry." He whispered.

"All right, you're seriously messed up." Sonic put his arm around Tails. "C'mon, you and me are staying here today. I think you could use the company."

"What? You – you want to stay here with – with me?" Tails panicked. An entire _day_ with Sonic? He didn't know if he could manage the stress.

"Of course I do. Now come on, in we go."

"What - what will the guys think?"

"Oh, I'll come up with some explanation."

Tails was led over to the couch, where he slumped down and put his head in his hands. How was he going to get through this day?

Sonic the Hedgehog sat awkwardly beside his friend, Tails. It was weird, seeing him like this. Normally, the fox was outgoing and talkative, but for the last few months, he'd barely talked to Sonic at all.

"_I wonder if we're drifting apart?"_ Sonic gulped. The one thing he couldn't bear to lose was Tails. The thought of their friendship falling apart put a knot in Sonic's stomach.

In fact, there was a knot in the hedgehog's stomach right now. Seeing his best friend in a state like this was almost too much for him to bear. Part of Sonic wanted to wrap his arms around his buddy and tell him that everything was going to be all right. And after that, to look into his light blue eyes, lean in, and…

"_Oh come on, do you really think that someone like Tails is gay?"_

It was a perfectly logical question. How could someone as perfect as Tails have a tendency towards other men? It just didn't seem possible, no matter how much Sonic hoped.

"Hey, Tails?"

"Yeah, Sonic?" The kit responded quietly, almost in a whisper.

"It's going to be all right, you know." It seemed like a stupid thing for Sonic to say, but it was the best that he could think of right now.

"Sure."

"Tails?"

"Yes, Sonic?"

"Where's your bathroom?" Sonic needed a place to collect his thoughts for a while.

Tails glanced down the hall. "Best one's downstairs and - and to the right."

"Thanks, buddy." Sonic quickly walked downstairs. As he approached the bathroom, he noticed a peculiar sight. In the middle of the classic wood and carpet hallway was a pair of high-tech glass doors.

Sonic stared through the doors into a dark gray metallic room. Bright yellow and silver lines crisscrossed the floor, walls, and ceiling, pulsating evenly.

"Whoa, what've you been building, Tails?"

There was a quiet chime from the door itself. "This is a holographic simulation suite."

Sonic looked at the door. "Thanks?"

"You're welcome."

The hedgehog stood at the doorway, his hands at his sides. Eventually, his curiousity got the better of him. "Uh, can I go in?"

"Please select a program to run."

A computer screen appeared on the doorway. Sonic noticed only one program on the list. He pressed it.

"Loading Program." A few moments passed. "Program loaded. You may enter."

The doors opened, and Sonic stepped through the doorway into an exact replica of Tails' bedroom. The hedgehog glanced around, trying to figure out why Tails would have a duplicate bedroom.

"Tails, are you coming back down soon?"

Sonic was surprised to hear himself from downstairs. "Uh, yeah." He smiled. _"If I'm supposed to be Tails, I might as well play the part."_

Sonic descended the stairs, carefully eyeing everything. It was all an exact copy of Tails' house.

"What happened to your suit?"

Sonic glanced down at his t-shirt and jeans. Apparently, he was supposed to be in formalwear. "I – uh – I guess I changed." The hedgehog then looked at his holographic counterpart, dressed finely. "Huh. I guess I do look good in a tux."

His counterpart smiled. "'Course you do." The holo-Sonic grabbed the real hedgehog's hand. "C'mon. Meatloaf's ready."

"Meatloaf?" Sonic was so confused.

"Yeah, the dinner you made us. I can't wait to try it."

Sonic took a good long look at his holographic counterpart, trying to make sense of his situation. "Are we…"

"Are we what?"

"Dating?"

The hologram chuckled. "You really do like to take things fast, don't you, Tails? It's only our first dinner."

"Kind of _romantic_ for a first dinner, wouldn't you say?"

Holo-Sonic smiled. "Well, as I said. You do love to take things fast."

Sonic laughed a little. "Sounds like something I would say."

"Hm? What was that?"

"I – uh, I said I need to use the bathroom."

So… Tails really did have feelings for him. And if this whole "simulation" thing was any indication, it wasn't something that Tails took lightly. The fox must have spent months building and programming this thing, just so he could have dinner with Sonic.

A smile came to Sonic's face. If Tails really wanted to have dinner with him, than he was going to get it. "Computer, bring up the script for this program."

It had been almost six hours since Sonic had disappeared from Tails' living room couch. The fox was beginning to wonder if the hedgehog had left without him knowing. Tails actually hoped that Sonic was gone, so that he could vent all of these leftover feelings without being noticed.

He quickly slipped downstairs and approached the glass doors. His brow furled when he noticed that his program was already active. "Computer, how long has this program been running?"

"Six hours, forty-eight minutes, twenty-two seconds."

"_Huh, that's about the time that Sonic showed up. I wonder if the program failed to deactivate?"_

Tails entered his duplicate bedroom. TV sounds came from downstairs. "Sonic?" The fox descended down the stairs.

"'Bout time you decided to come back!" Sonic turned off the TV. "I've been waiting for about seven hours!

"I'm really sorry, Soniku. Something came up."

"So you had to spend six hours in your bedroom?"

"Sonic, I'm really sorry. Is there any way I can make it up to you?"

The hedgehog sighed. "Bah. I can't stay mad at you. C'mere." Sonic pulled Tails into a tight hug. "The meatloaf's probably cold, though. Or burnt."

"Wait. You just sat there for seven hours and watched TV?"

"What can I say? I love TV."

Tails sat beside Sonic. "So… what do you want to do?"

"Well, talk, I guess." The hedgehog smiled. "It's only our first date. I want to hear all about how you feel about me."

Tails felt himself blush. It was silly, but this hedgehog was so close to perfect, that he felt like the real thing. "Well, I like you a lot."

Sonic leaned in closer. "Go on."

"And I've had a crush on you for almost a year."

Sonic leaned in closer, close enough that Tails could feel the hedgehog's breath on his neck. "Go on."

"And I always knew you'd be the one for me, no matter what."

"Tails, that's got to be the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me." Sonic's voice was almost a whisper.

"Well, it gets even nicer." Tails smiled and pushed himself up against Sonic's body. "In fact, you could even say it gets lovely." The fox gently pressed his lips against Sonic's. He could feel the hedgehog's short gasp. "_Wait, he's not supposed to gasp. I didn't program him that way."_

Tails quickly pulled out of the kiss. "Something's wrong."

"What? Did I do something wrong?"

The fox furled his brow again. "I don't know. I need to check something." The fox stared at Sonic. "Computer, end program."

Tails watched as the room began to disappear. And when it was all gone, Sonic stood there, staring at the ground.

Tails stood, staring at the blue hedgehog who had failed to fade like the rest of the hologram. "I…"

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "You what?"

"It's – I just told you…" Tails stammered, trying to find the right words to express the emotions that he was feeling.

"You told me how you feel."

"And I – and then I _kissed_ you!"

The hedgehog smiled. "And how do you feel now?"

The kit didn't know how he felt. He was happy, of course. Nervous, definitely; he couldn't just erase Sonic's memory. Outraged that Sonic would use his holo-simulation to get what he wanted. But mostly just dumbfounded that he could've screwed up on this magnitude!

"I – I don't know…." Tails felt tears swelling up in his eyes. "I – I just can't, Sonic. This was supposed to be something that I could just play out with no consequence. Nothing real was supposed to happen here!"

"But something real _did_ happen here." Sonic grabbed the kit's shoulder and shook it gently. "You told me how you feel, and I feel the same way about you, Tails."

"No – you – you can't feel the same way." The fox gulped. "How is that even possible?"

"You're a scientist, an inventor. You're a damn good one, too. If there's one thing you should know, it's that _anything _ispossible." Sonic grabbed Tails' hand in his own. "Besides, if I did feel the same about you, would the consequences really be that bad?"

Tails thought about that for a minute, and then smiled slightly. "Geez, Sonic; the way you manipulate people, you really should be in politics."

"Hey. I've been a superhero my entire life. Why would I want to go and ruin my reputation like that?" The hedgehog pulled Tails into a close hug. "But seriously; would the consequences really be that bad?"

"I – I guess not."

Sonic put his lips close to Tails' ear. "Good. Now, I believe that we have some unfinished business." The hedgehog pulled Tails into a long and passionate kiss. The fox felt all of the negative emotion in him drain away. All of the nervousness and doubt was blown away in what Tails could only describe as the happiest moment in his life.

"I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but I love you, Sonic."

"I love you too, Tails."

"Well, Sonic." Tails said in the same renewed and undaunted tone that he would've used with Sonic's holographic counterpart. "I think we can still try to save that meatloaf. We are heroes, after all."

With that, the fox re-activated the program. Pretty soon, the smell of meatloaf filled the room, and the two new lovers stood at the stove, holding hands.

"Oh!" Tails looked at Sonic. "There's one thing I forgot."

"What's that?"

The fox smiled. "Computer, delete the Sonic holo-character."

There was a quiet beep as the computer complied. "I won't be needing him anymore."


End file.
